Water, Washing, Baptism, Spirit, Word

It might be kind of simple, and I might be a Simpleton (I've been called worse), but what I am going to propose here is pretty simple, clear, and really nothing new. In fact, the entire Christian church held to these things from the days of the Apostles up until the radical Anabaptists of the Reformation era. By the way, in case you didn't know, the Anabaptists were heretics who denied original sin, among other things.

So sit back and read as I propose some pretty simple things.

1. The word water, when used in Holy Scripture, actually means water. That is to say, it means H2O.

So, when Jesus speaks to Nicodemus about being born again by water and the Spirit, Jesus actually means "water and the Spirit."

St. John 3:5: Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Water and the Spirit go together here. It is a "both/and" deal, not two separate things. It's not talking about the amniotic fluid of birth. It's talking about water and the Spirit. Water means water.

You don't really need to go looking for alternative interpretations here. The amniotic fluid interpretation is silly, although those who would deny any sort of baptismal efficacy entertain it, because, you know, it simply can't mean the obvious here. The passage just is not allowed to be talking about baptism, despite the numerous other texts that say the same thing in various different forms.

So then a purely figurative and spiritual interpretation gets concocted. Advocates of this one like to point back to Ezekiel 36.

Ezekiel 36:25-27: I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. ²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

This interpretation is better than the amniotic fluid one, but it's still a bit of gymnastics, used solely to fit into particular theologies. But why can't water mean water here as well? I mean, yeah, for sure there is a spiritual component to John 3:5 as well as Ezekiel 36:25. No one disputes that. But then again, that's why the word "Spirit" is there, because the Holy Spirit is connected to the water.

So what is the problem now then? Water can't be water because this is spiritual? Does that mean God does not use material things to save the material world? If that is the case, that's Gnosticism. I mean, Christ is a man and all. He's material.

Hmm...

2. The word washing, when used in Holy Scripture, actually means washing. And washing is done with water.

Just as John 3:5 speaks of water and the Spirit, Titus 3:5 speaks of washing and the Spirit.

Titus 3:4-7: But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The phrase used is "washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit." This passage sounds just like "unless one is born [regeneration] of water [washing] and the Spirit [Holy Spirit]."

I mean, am I missing something here?

3. Baptism, when spoken of in Scripture is a washing with water most often, because that's what the word actually means.

Yes, there are examples when Jesus uses the word baptism to refer to the cross. But that does not give us a good reason to eisogete the texts every place it's pretty obviously talking about baptism.

There is yet another parallel passage to John 3:5 and Titus 3:5 that says the same thing.

Acts 2:38: And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Here you go, same thing: Repent and be baptized [water]...for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And there are others that speak of baptism, which includes water, actually doing something. The short list includes Romans 6:3-4, Ephesians 5:26, Colossians 2:12, Galatians 3:27, 1 Peter 3:21, and so on.

The essential elements in a baptism are water and God's Word. This Word is given to us by Jesus in the Great Commission:

St. Matthew 28:19: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Now I simply ask you this: Does the Holy Spirit work through the Word? If you're any sort of orthodox Christian, the answer to that is yes, the Holy Spirit works through the Word.

What is baptism? Is it not a washing of water with the Word? Do we not baptize people in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? Is it not into the Name of the Triune God that we are baptized?

At this juncture, it's very clear. If you are denying the efficacy of baptism as a means of grace through which God works, you're just flat out denying Scripture. The same Spirit who inspired the Holy Scriptures is very clear. So clear, in fact, that we are given passage after passage about baptism doing things to us that save us. It hits us from multiple directions in order to be clear. It says "water and the Spirit." It then says "washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit." Then, "be baptised...and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." And on and on and on we go.

Oh...it violates faith alone I hear you saying? Only if you have the wrong definition of baptism and erroneously turn it into a work. The way in which Holy Scripture describes baptism tells us that it cannot possibly be a work. I'm not going to go into this, because I wrote a blog on that topic a couple months ago, found here:

Faith Alone and Baptism go together

I propose simply this: Holy Scripture is very clear on this topic, and baptism is God's work done TO you, not your work given to God. Water means water, washing means washing, and baptism means baptism.

Where in Christianity is water used? Baptism, right? So, when Scripture repeatedly talks about water and washing, why do some theologies deny the obvious and plain meaning of Scripture.

It doesn't fit their presuppositions, that's why.